Upanishads · Jābāla 4
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ हैनं ब्रह्मचारिण ऊचुः किं जप्येनामृतत्वं ब्रूहीति । स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः । शतरुद्रियेणेत्येतान्येव ह वा अमृतस्य नामानि । एतैर्ह वा अमृतो भवतीति
Transliteration (IAST)
atha hainaṃ brahmacāriṇa ūcuḥ kiṃ japyenāmṛtatvaṃ brūhīti | sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ | śatarudriyeṇetyetānyeva ha vā amṛtasya nāmāni | etairha vā amṛto bhavatīti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ह एनम् ब्रह्मचारिणः ऊचुःatha ha enam brahmacāriṇaḥ ūcuḥthen the brahmacārins said to him; thereupon the students addressed him
किम् जप्येन अमृतत्वम् ब्रूहि इतिkim japyena amṛtatvam brūhi iti“by what repetition immortality? say”; “through what japa comes deathlessness? tell us”
सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यःsaḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥhe said, Yājñavalkya; and Yājñavalkya spoke
शतरुद्रियेण इतिśatarudriyeṇa iti“by the Śatarudriya”; “by means of the śatarudriya”
एतानि एव ह वैetāni eva ha vaifor these are indeed; for precisely they are
अमृतस्य नामानिamṛtasya nāmānithe names of the immortal; the names of deathlessness
एतैः ह वैetaiḥ ha vaiby these very ones; precisely through them
अमृतः भवति इतिamṛtaḥ bhavati itione becomes immortal; he is made deathless
Translation
Then the brahmacārins said to him: “By what repetition is immortality attained? Say.” Yājñavalkya said: “By the Śatarudriya; for these are the names of the immortal, and by them one becomes immortal.”
Version
e17c64004600 · published Jul 29, 2026, 2:53:35 AM UTC
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Now the questioners are no longer ṛṣis but brahmacārins — students living with their teacher.
And their question is the shortest of all: “by what repetition, immortality?”
It is a question about practice, not about the subject. The first asked what Kurukṣetra is; the second, how to know the Ātman; these want to know what to recite.
The answer: the Śatarudriya — “the hundred names of Rudra”, the hymn of the Yajurveda still recited today in the worship of Śiva.
And a reason is given that is worth pausing over: etāny eva ha vā amṛtasya nāmāni — “for these are the names of the immortal”.
Not “a hymn that bestows immortality”, but “the names of the immortal”. He who repeats them performs no rite that yields a fruit: he calls by name That which does not die.
Recall how the same thought was put in the fourth upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī: “the mantra is that which signifies Rāma, and Rāma is the signified”.
Note too that the Kaivalya Upaniṣad ends with this very same direction: “he who studies the Śatarudriya is purified”. Two books of one circle, and both point to one hymn.